View report page

With the changing of standards of health and diet and the decrease of and improved
treatment of acute illness, we have been able to devote more time and skill to the smaller
imperfections in physical conditions in order to help children become a more perfect wholestraight
legs, mobile joints, well shaped teeth and good posture, speech, hearing and vision and,
we hope, able to cope better with the mad rush of life in the I970's.
We have been fortunate in Waltham Forest Health Department, not only in having good
facilities with good staff, good clinics and health centres and schools which are able to cater
for children with varied abilities and handicaps, but also in having a good relationship with the
local General Practitioners and the local hospitals. Specialists in the Orthopaedic, Ear, Nose
and Throat, Ophthalmic, Paediatricand Mental Subnormality fields hold clinics in the borough and
see children in the pre-school and school age groups, paying attention to minor as well as major
defects and providing hospital facilities when necessary for further diagnosis and treatment. This
has been a happy relationship which should not be lost in re-organisation, but we hope will even
increase further - perhaps with consultants seeing older people in Health Centres as well.
During 1972 there has been improvement in the service. In the pre-school clinics we have
continued to examine children with a more developmental bias and in 1973 will be examining at
4½ years for the routine infant-school medical inspection. We have examined many of the children
in this group in the past but from now on will aim to see all at this age. Some children will still
be seen in the Infant School, those who have failed to attend or have been unco-operative and
those who have been found to have a defect either at a previous medical or as a result of
discussion with the Head and Class Teacher.
We are glad that the earlier substitution for the Ministry vitamin A. & D drops to replace
the fishy, smelly cod liver oil (often not given to the children ) has now been further improved by
the addition of vitamin C, so enabling the mothers to give A, D & C in one dosage. This has been
of great advantage, especially to non-English speaking mothers and we have been very pleased
at the excellent take-up rate. It seems strange that cod liver oil and orange juice, both a war time
supplement, have only recently been superseded by the Department of Health, whereas other
multi-vitamin preparations have been on the market for years-the result has been worthwhile but
I wonder how many grandmothers wish that they too could have managed without the orange
staining and fishy smell of baby clothes in the past.
Two Keystone Vision testing machines have been in use in the latter part of this year;
this has enabled visions to be checked more adequately in schools where inadequate distances
and lighting have made examination extremely difficult in the past. Owing, however, to shortage
of staff, Doctors, Clinic Nurses, Physio-therapists, Speech Therapists, and administrative staff,
as well as increasing demands, we have not been able to give the perfect service we would wish.
One such demand has been the need for more hygiene inspections because of the increased
incidence (nationally) of nits and lice in heads. Fortunately the increase has been controlled by
additional supervision and treatment. We are glad that the end of the year saw an increasing
establishment of Doctors and Nurses and administrative staff with the potential of improvement
this brings. But the continued shortage of physio-therapists and speech therapists made too
great a demand on the therapists in post. This has meant non-referral of less handicapped children
and sometimes referral to hospital for a service which could be provided locally. The equipment
in the audiology unit has been improved and more investigations into children's hearing loss have
already been started.
In 1973 with the completion of the new school for maladjusted children and, in September,
a partially hearing unit, new schools will have been provided for all handicapped children during
the past eight years - a great achievement in one borough.
-II-